


The Mermaid's Fin

by Inkzy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bar, Barman Draco, Beer, Crush, Draco 23, Drinking, Drunk! Ginny, Failed Hinny, Falling In Love, Flirting, Grumpy!Harry, Harry 25, Hero Harry, Kissing, M/M, Obnoxious! Ginny, Obsessive Harry, Past Relationship(s), Short, Touching, Walk Into A Bar, chatting, friday night, men kissing, non-magic au, office worker Harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-01-30 20:58:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12661296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkzy/pseuds/Inkzy
Summary: Harry is a stressed 25 year old, sick of his new job, obnoxious ex and life in general. One Friday night he gets the opportunity to talk to his barman crush, Draco Malfoy, at the Mermaid's Fin, who is intrigued by the man and his habits. Will a spark rise between them? Or will Harry continue his days alone?...Check out my other works at: http://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkzy/works





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello reader!!! :)  
> Welcome to this little fic I just started, I plan on it being short so there'll only be a few more chapters at most but nonetheless enjoy and leave anything you want to say down below. Keep the criticism constructive please...
> 
> Leave kudos and comment as usual <3  
> ~Inkzy

Chapter 1

 

The moon was high on the crisp cold night. It was a regular Friday, youngsters straying the high streets like alley-cats, and Harry had just gotten out of the office, his fingers stiffer than the air he breathed in. He thought a beer might do it for tonight.

His new job was working him to the bone, and Harry hadn't slept or ate properly in days. To make it worse, Blaise, his co-worker and supposed guide, was knowingly dumping his workload on a clueless Harry, who thought it was his responsibility to get it done. Harry had only just realised that day though when he overheard his co-workers gossiping that not only was Blaise taking advantage of his time, he had been giving him the wrong instructions of where to put his completed work and how to use the printer. No wonder it had broken down four times that week!

He wondered the street miserably, his slightly plumped lips turning red in the cold. Green eyes glistened in the orange street light as he stared ahead of him. His head was hot, but the rest of him cold. They do say that life begins to dull after twenty-five, and the realisation was hitting Harry hard. Even the thought of getting out of bed tomorrow was giving him a headache, good thing it was the weekend.

He made his way into the bar, the smell of cheap alcohol filling the room. He hated bars if he was honest. Harry didn't like all of the the women that seemed to flock around him, they were like little flies that refused to buzz off. He enjoyed sitting in solitude and thinking quietly to himself over his day and sometimes taking a peek at a cute barman or two.

This bar, 'The Mermaid's Fin', was Harry's favourite in the entire city. It was small and quaint, though not too small and sat hidden on the corner. It was traditional as every other British bar and the staff were always nice enough to him to leave him alone without constantly prompting him for more drinks while under alcoholic influence. There was this one young man, a blonde boy who had seemed to take a liking to Harry. Some middle-aged women were pestering him and grabbing at his shirt and Harry could not resist but to be the hero.

The man was in his early twenties, but he had the demeanour of a seventeen year old, awkward and small, cute in a magical sort of way. Harry could not help but to be enchanted by his aura; he was sweet and always polite, speaking curtly when spoken to, unlike all of the other barmen Harry had spoken to. He had a charm about him that made you keep a conversation going with him, and had a subtle humour that only the intelligent could recognise. His sarcastic responses seemed to fly past the bubbly local's heads, but Harry noticed every undertone in his soft quiet voice and gave them appreciation, just like they deserved. The raven-haired man found it irresistible to listen to his conversations with the customers, he seemed so melancholy. He remembered his eyes that night he stepped in to help him and fend the women away, they were so bright and...lovely. Pale grey speckled irises had blinked at him curiously, long dark lashes fanning his cheeks flatteringly.

The man himself was exquisite, mysterious and angelic all at the same time, being shorter and slightly on the skinny side, his bones and angles giving him a fae beauty that shined through pale ivory skin. He had smiled at him meekly and thanked him before getting on with his work.

Harry had hoped he would see him again that night, just to look at him once and hear his voice, and he did. The blonde was calmly working away behind the counter, unruffled at the large commotion in the other corner of the room.

The raven-haired man took a deep breath and strided towards the bar, ready to open his mouth and greet his crush before a red blur appeared in front of him.

 

“Hi, Harry! My don't you look worn out,”

Ginny Weasley had remarked loudly, gaining the attention of a few gazes in the room, including a certain blonde at the bar. She was wearing a short black dress that was pulled up too high and a signature red lip that she had adopted over the past few years. Her skin was pale and flushed red

Harry sighed. He hoped he wouldn't run into her tonight. Out of all of Harry's exs, she was the most persistent and couldn't seem to move on and let Harry go.

He was exhausted, and not mentally prepared to deal with her outgoing personality.

 

“Oh, hey Ginny,” he replied lamely, sighing as he did so. He couldn't help but sound tired and annoyed as much as he didn't want to hurt her feelings anymore.

 

“What are you doing here?” the red head asked excitedly. Harry wanted to ask so badly why she was in such a good mood, but as she spoke the smell of alcohol was evident in her breath, so he did not need to question. She smiled brightly, or obnoxiously in Harry's eyes, and was moving her hands around too much.

 

“Came to get a drink.” he replied shortly, gesturing at the bar behind her and beginning to question her intelligence. She knew he came here every weekend, and he hated people asking him stupid questions, especially since he was already irritated from a long day at work. What other reason would someone come to a bar?

 

“Oh wow, Harry! Sounds good, come drink with us and let's catch up!” she babbled happily, pointing at her table of friends who all waved back and smiled. Harry let out an incoherent groan and sighed, the last thing he wanted was to spend his evening with a bunch of giggly girls with nothing decent coming out of their mouths.

 

“No, I'm alright, I'm just here to get a beer and I'm off to bed.”

 

Ginny pouted at this, her bushy eyebrows scrunching together ridiculously. She drooped like a small child and looked at him seriously. Harry wanted to punch the expression off of her face. It was the way his primary school teachers had looked at him.

“Boohoo - you're no fun!” the girl exclaimed, throwing her arms up. More and more people were starting to watch now, it was embarrassing.

 

“Have you just realised?” Harry replied dryly.

 

“No need to be rude about it Mr-Meany-Pants!” Ginny was genuinely starting a strop now, their conversation being the main focus of the pub.

Harry rolled his eyes, “And you've also seemed to have realised that you have the brains of a five-year-old. Vodka isn't a good look on you, pipe it down next time and you may just become more tolerable.”

 

Ginny burst into tears dramatically and stumbled out the door, barely able to walk. Everyone in the room stared at him.

 

“What?”

 

And they all turned back to their conversations. Gossiping about what had just happened. Ginny was the loudest mouth in the bar and so practically everybody in town knew about their past relationship. She caused a scene like this nearly every weekend which is why he decided to switch bars to Mermaid's, but naturally she had followed him somehow. How is it she knew where he was all of the time? It was starting to get creepy.

 

Now even more grumpily, he plodded over to the counter and sat down nervously, head in his hands.

 

“Tough night, eh?”

 

Green eyes risen steadily, blinking at the sight of a blonde man before him. Harry's stomach lurched and he grabbed at it, groaning uncomfortably. He wanted to just get up and walk out but it would be rude to walk away without buying.

Harry smiled cynically and nodded, “Not my favourite so far...” he mumbled quietly, fiddling with hands in his lap.

The barman smiled back sympathetically, huge pale eyes crinkling sweetly.

“What can I get you?” he asked gently, leaning towards Harry over the top of the counter. The close proximity making butterflies leap around in his gut.

 

“Just a beer thanks.” Harry tried to smile but it ended up coming out straight as tears threatened to come out. He pushed a note towards the blonde over the surface. A smooth warm hand slid over his and caressed it slowly.

“Hey, better make that two, you look stressed. Wanna talk it out?” he offered casually, still smiling.

 

“Is this how you bribe customers?” Harry sat back quickly, looking him up and down.

“Huh?” the barman looked very confused.

 

“Do you take advantage of their shitty mood to get them to stay longer?”

 

The blonde chuckled when he realised what Harry meant, a light and deep sound,“I thought you meant something else,” he looked at Harry coyly through dark lashes, making the man pink in the ears.

“Maybe I do, maybe I don't. But I figured you needed it, and plus, it's not as though you don't sit in here for hours anyway, eavesdropping on my conversations every weekend...”

 

Harry gasped and spluttered, attempting to come up with something on the spot to recover.

 

“No, it's just, you see-”

 

“Shush now.” he silenced him, waving his finger about, “I'm not an idiot, sir. Nobody comes in here on their lonesome and sits about for no reason. It's kind of obvious when you look at me every ten seconds. I confirmed it when I sent my friend Pansy to come and chat you up and you turned her down. I've never met a man who's done that before, so it is obvious you had either an ex or a fancy on your mind.”

 

Harry flushed violently. He had no idea this man was actually paying attention to him, how humiliating! The way he had called him 'sir' had went straight to his groin as well. The man was smirking knowingly, peering at Harry with innocent eyes, though Harry could tell he was far from pure in the slightest. His good looks probably meant he was used to attention from strangers, and Harry had probably seemed pathetic, hiding in the bar every night on his own just to watch someone. He was growing increasingly hot everywhere, the man's touch sending him crazy.

“At first,” the barman continued, “I though you were being a bit pitiable, though I'll admit it was rather endearing. And then came the night you saved me from those vicious drunken hags from molesting me across the bar, and I saw you through a different light. I've wanted to chat with you ever since, but you barely ever come over here, and when you do somebody else is serving. It's rare for somebody around here to drink as little as you do, the locallers are a rowdy bunch.”

 

“So you're not a localler?” Harry questioned interestedly. He wanted to find out more about him. He stuttered as he asked, gulping quietly. He hadn't been this nervous since high-school.

“Far from it.” he replied airily.

 

The barman turned around to get him two beers from the fridge, letting go of Harry's hand and slid them across the worn wood of the counter. He returned his hand to Harry's and took the money slowly, rummaging around in his apron for change, giving it to Harry swiftly.

 

Harry furrowed his brow, “But I only gave you enough for one?”

The barman winked, “On the house, but only because I like you so much.”

 

Harry smiled at him fully this time and took the beers with a new spring in his body. Beginning to down one of them thirstily. The man was different to how Harry expected, less angelic and having a more realistic beauty to him now. All thoughts of Ginny had left his head and he was at ease, stress-free from work and all other inconveniences in his life. The barman wandered down the other side of the bar, serving some other customers who looked annoyed at having to wait for their conversation to end. But Harry didn't care, he felt a slight loneliness at having the man leave, wanting him to come back and talk to him some more.

 

Fifteen minutes ticked by and the blonde man was still busied by customers who seemed to be growing at increasing demands. Harry gave up waiting and decided to get up and leave, being too tired to sit around all night. His heart rate had calmed down now, though his face was still pink. As he opened the door, bell sounding off, he heard someone shout, but he slipped out and disappeared into the night, leaving behind a confused blonde at the door.

 

 


	2. Bumping Into Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry bumps into Draco on his weekly shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers!!! :)
> 
> So we all knew this was going to happen, it always does in these fics haha. This was a little rushed so if anything is off please let me know down below. I was going to wait until next week to write this but ah well, enjoy it, there's more to come. I didn't plan on it being more than a few chapters but this could probably end up turning into a ten chapter fic. Whatever, there's more for you to enjoy. Please keep criticism constructive and friendly so I can learn from my mistakes and make the fic better for you :)
> 
> Leave kudos and comments as usual <3  
> ~Inkzy

Chapter 2

 

Harry sighed. He was in his local Tesco, picking up some shopping when his trolley had knocked over an entire pile of gravy granules that once had the form of a neat and tidy pyramid. He felt absolutely awful, an employee had probably spent a long time stacking it and harry had just knocked it over so carelessly.

Today was not a good day, he had cut himself whilst shaving, poured orange juice in his cereal instead of milk and now this had happened. Never had the man wanted to crawl into bed and hide more in his entire life.

Tuesdays were Harry's day off and were supposed to be the good day of the week, but his day could not get any worse. The raven-haired man was called in for work for 'a couple of hours' which somehow turned out to be a full day at work, so Harry found himself doing his weekly shop tired and pissed off at half nine at night.

He needed to get his report finished when he got home, then he needed to ring Hermione to ask about drinks, then he needed to do and anything and everything an overworked man should not be doing at this time of night on a Tuesday!

He was exhausted. And he felt that way everyday, the phrase writing up the recent and probably future chapters of his life.

If only he were promoted, he'd be sipping coffee all day and bitching like the rest of his team but instead Harry felt as though he was the only one actually contributing to the company, and it was slowly but surely tearing him apart.

He began grumbling to himself cynically, making stupid faces as he did so before he a bemused cough roused him from his ramblings. A blonde man, a very familiar blonde man he should say so, was stood behind him, arms crossed. It appeared his objective was to acquire one of the numerous tubs of coffee that Harry had been stood in front of, trapped in his head, for a moment too long.

 

“Pleasure to see you again, cutie,” he winked at Harry as the man furiously flushed and moved out of the man's way.

The raven-haired man turned even redder at his words.

“Oh, sorry, am I embarrassing you? You see, I never got to ask your name on Friday so I've been nicknaming you that in my head for the past few days,” the blonde smirked before purring, “forgive me,”

“Oh-um-it's fine, yeah, it's all good, in the hood, I mean, not that I live in the hood but-”

Harry stumbled over his words comically. He made an attempt to rest his arm and chin on the trolley bar but the metal cart slid away from him under the impact, causing him to awkwardly stumble and almost fall.

Luckily, a soft and gentle hand caught his chin and Harry found himself being lifted and forced to look into the face of the man.

God, he was beautiful, how could Harry forget?

The man hadn't had him out of his head ever since Friday, finding it difficult to concentrate on work and filling out reports. He felt a little ridiculous with the realisation that he had first viewed him as a juvenile and angelic creature but up close he was visibly taller than Harry and was every bit as masculine as most men dreamed to be. Harry could see all of the lines and stubble in his face, and still to Harry he was a flawless painting, a masterpiece in human form and everything the man wanted to be his. Not even a photograph could capture this perfection, and Harry didn't even know his name yet.

The blonde chuckled and helped him upright, smiling at him in a way that made Harry's insides shake.

“I'm afraid I don't even know your name,” he said in a way that Harry could tell was practised. This man was definitely the flirty type.

“Harry,” said man breathed, blinking into stormy grey eyes. They had his own captured in-between all of those little lines and speckles.

“Harry,” the other man said slowly, as though he was tasting the name on his tongue for the first time. “I like it,” he decided.

Harry laughed nervously and ran a hand through his hair, “Uh, what's yours?”

 

He stared at him cluelessly for a moment before blinking and blushing, “Oh, right, yeah, it's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.”

It was the first time Harry had seen him uncomposed like this, to see the flush of embarrassment in his eyes and skin. It was a strange thing to witness, disbelief in his own eyes at his own mistake. Draco was clearly used to having the upper hand when it came to romancing people, but Harry was about to change that.

 

“Draco,” Harry smirked and tilted his head slightly, “I like that.”

 

Draco immediately caught on at Harry's game and looked slightly afraid but then caught himself.

 

“Your shoe lace is untied by the way,” he said casually, and grinned.

“Huh?” Harry looked down at his shoes to find he was wearing boots without laces and when he looked back up to respond to the trick, his chin was gently grabbed by a warm hand and his lips were caught in a passionate kiss.

Words cannot describe how he felt at that moment, to have Draco's lips against his, to feel the texture and shape of him, it was like fireworks going off in his mouth. He grabbed Draco's face in turn and deepened the kiss, lightly nibbling and sucking playfully.

When they pulled apart, both men were flushed and breathless, savouring the moment of what they both perceived to be the best kiss they had had in a very long while.

 

Draco was the first to speak, “I'll see you on Friday, like usual?”

Harry just nodded, finding himself in a strange state.

 

“Bye!” Draco walked away, disappearing into the next isle, a half nervous smile on his face.

“Bye...” Harry mumbled longingly, stopping himself from mentioning that the blonde forgot to pick up his coffee.

Little did he know, quite a lot of people were staring.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers!!! :)
> 
> So we all knew this was going to happen, it always does in these fics haha. This was a little rushed so if anything is off please let me know down below. I was going to wait until next week to write this but ah well, enjoy it, there's more to come. I didn't plan on it being more than a few chapters but this could probably end up turning into a ten chapter fic. Whatever, there's more for you to enjoy. Please keep criticism constructive and friendly so I can learn from my mistakes and make the fic better for you :)
> 
> Leave kudos and comments as usual <3  
> ~Inkzy

**Author's Note:**

> Hello reader!!! :)  
> Welcome to this little fic I just started, I plan on it being short so there'll only be a few more chapters at most but nonetheless enjoy and leave anything you want to say down below. Keep the criticism constructive please...
> 
> Leave kudos and comment as usual <3  
> ~Inkzy


End file.
